Tommy Thayer was born in Portland, Oregon, and grew up in the nearby suburb of Beaverton, Oregon. His passion for early 70’s hard rock drove him to pick up the electric guitar at age 13. He eventually formed the band Black ‘n Blue with high school classmate and friend Jamie St. James in 1981. The band was signed to Geffen Records and released their debut album in 1984 seeing moderate success at radio and MTV with the song “Hold On to 18″.

Black ‘n Blue opened for Kiss on tour in the fall of 1985. Gene Simmons would go on to produce one of the band’s albums. Fast forward to 2002. Tommy Thayer would became lead guitarist for Kiss, and take over the “Spaceman” role as a permanent replacement for Ace Frehley. Cheers to Tommy Thayer in his birthday today!